England

The reigning champions were never in front until a long-range penalty from replacement Handre Pollard with just two minutes left on the clock.

Under unrelenting rain, scrum-half Alex Mitchell and fly-half Owen Farrell went to the air again and again for England, whose defence and breakdown work were ferocious as the Springboks had few answers.

Four Farrell first-half penalties to one from Manie Libbok and one from Pollard - who replaced Libbok after just 30 minutes - put England 12-6 up at half-time lead, which Farrell extended to 15-6 with a thumping drop-goal.

Tries from Manu Tuilagi and Joe Marchant as well as 11 points from the boot of Owen Farrell had given England a handy 21-10 lead at half-time.

However, the Flying Fijians roared back into the game in the second half, scoring tries through Peni Ravai and Vilimoni Botitu to level things at 24-24.

In the end it was England fly-half and captain Farrell who settled things for the 2003 champions, kicking a drop goal to regain the lead before slotting a late penalty to secure victory and a place in the last four.

Eventually, England found a way to come through the stiff challenge presented by their doughty opponents, but it was certainly not at all pretty and came as a result of pure graft towards the end.

England won their final Pool D fixture 18-17 with a scrappy performance in Lille that saw Samoa shine in defeat.

It was a historic day in France as Owen Farrell became England’s top points scorer of all time as he overtook Jonny Wilkinson’s record that had previously stood for 22 years. Additionally, it was the closest score between the two sides in their nine-match history.

Key points:

• Fiji had never previously beaten England at the Test level
• England captain Courtney Lawes says Fiji made his side "look silly"
• Fiji will play the Wallabies in the Rugby World Cup pool stage

The result would have been noticed by Eddie Jones and his Wallabies squad, who face Fiji in the men's Rugby World Cup beginning in France next month.

• Harry Kane scores one penalty but misses another as England crash out
• Tchouameni and Giroud on target to send holders France through
• Neither team deserved to lose a fantastic match full of first-rate football

England 1-2 France

Goals: England - Kane (54' pen); France - Tchouameni (17'), Giroud (78')

France will take on Morocco in the Qatar 2022 semi-finals after a thrilling, topsy-turvy 2-1 win over England at Al Bayt Stadium.

England's Rugby Football Union (RFU) and Rugby Football League (RFL) will restrict transgender participation in the domestic game, with the governing bodies recommending that only players recorded as female at birth be allowed to play in the women's category.

The RFU said last week that it began a review of its existing policy in 2020 with a survey that got more than 11,000 responses.

Radley met with England coach Shaun Wane during his recent trip to Australia and RFL officials confirmed that the Roosters forward had now declared his eligibility and determination to press for inclusion in World Cup squad.

If selected for England Radley would not longer qualify to represent for Australia as players cannot switch between tier one nations - and he would therefore also be ineligible to play Origin for NSW. 

But the health secretary said people should "remain cautious" and celebrate outside on New Year's Eve if possible.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said ministers would continue to monitor the data and urged people to get their "first, second or booster jab without delay".

Meanwhile, both England and Scotland reported record cases over Christmas.

Some 113,628 new infections were reported in England on 25 December, 103,558 on 26 December and 98,515 on 27 December.

• Jonathon Best livestreamed himself on Facebook
• Best sentenced to 10 weeks in prison

Jonathon Best, 52, posted a rant about Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, who missed penalties in the shootout against Italy which England lost, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

In a tournament where everything had gone England’s way, this time it all went against them: asked to bat first after losing the toss, labouring to work out how to pace their innings, bowling as dew drenched the outfield on a heavy, humid night, watching Tymal Mills limp off midway through his second over to shred their death bowling plans as Sri Lanka accelerated towards their target.